Diabetes Awareness

Find out if you are at risk for diabetes, a leading cause of heart disease, stroke, and disability. Click here to take a simple test. November is Diabetes Awareness Month.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Deal of the day: Free medical screenings

Yes, you read that right. Free, as in no cost to you. Walgreen's and AARP will be sending around big red buses this month offering all adults 18 and over six free health screenings: bone density, cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, waist circumference and body mass analysis.

No appointment is necessary, results are immediate and from start to finish all six screenings take around 20-25 minutes. The free screenings are conducted inside the vehicle and are valued at more than $140. They also can give you educational information to help you get started on addressing problems found by the screenings.

Everybody who gets screenings also gets a free, one-year AARP membership. If you're under 50, you can give the membership to somebody who's over 50. If you're already a member, you get a one-year extension on your current status.

The first bay-area stop is Nov. 18 at Largo Cultural Center. Click here to find out which stop is most convenient for you.

This is the second year of the Walgreens/AARP Wellness Tour, which by the time it's done will have covered communities across the nation. Here's what the tests revealed last year: 

72.8% had high blood pressure levels
68.2% had high body mass index
65.9% had low bone density
60.5% had a waist circumference outside of the normal range
38.0% had high cholesterol levels
13.3% had high glucose levels

Charlotte Sutton, health and medicine editor

[Goodshoot Image]

Try something new

Bake an acorn squash for dinner tonight. Cut in half, scoop out seeds, bake on foil cut side down at 350 degrees until soft. Half a medium squash has about 112 calories, almost nine grams of fiber, plus calcium and vitamin A.

Diana Reed on the simple art of meditation

Diana Reed, the local yoga teacher who recently introduced us to the mysteries of prenatal yoga, is back to share something we all could use these days, inner peace. She's written a good primer on meditation, a quick and simple (which is not the same as easy) guide to starting a practice that could bring some much-needed clarity to your life.

Here it is:

Meditation. The word itself can be intimidating, conjuring images of robe-wearing Yogis on mountain tops.

Don’t worry about Yogis or anything else. That’s the whole point of meditation.

Its benefits are numerous, completing the circuit between body and mind. Meditation lowers the blood pressure and regulates the heart rate. Meditation allows the practitioner the chance to see inside of oneself, to experience an inner guidance system you may not be aware you possessed.

Meditation lowers stress levels, which in turn reduces anxiety. Here’s why: Rather than stressing out over an event or a thought, meditation can teach you to:

1) Stop

2) Look at the event or thought for what it is

3) Put it into perspective

4) Plan the next move

All without raising your pulse.

So, how to begin? Simple.

1) Find a quiet place. Consider adding photos, aromatic oils or candles to set a quiet mood.

2) Relax in a chair or seated on a thick pillow. You want to be comfortable, not fall asleep.

3) If you prefer to keep your eyes open, gaze on an object like a candle flame to promote focus and concentration. With closed eyes, set your attention on white noise. A quiet room works as well.

4) Breathe normally, yet remain aware of the breath’s flow. Let your thoughts settle on positive affirmations.

Remember to enjoy yourself. Don’t worry about reaching existential destinations or major insights. Just allow this quiet focus a chance to become a part of you.

If you find yourself distracted or annoyed by particular thoughts, try repeating a word or phrase over and over. Say "peace" or "I am well" or another affirmation that comforts you.

Meditation is a place in time where you meet yourself. Give yourself this gift and experience all that it has to offer. And the next time a situation begins to take a turn toward chaos, you’ll have the tools to look inward for the solution.

--Diana Reed

 

 

Do your meals measure up?

When serving dinner tonight measure everything in measuring cups or on a kitchen scale. See how accurate you are at pouring a 4 ounce glass of wine, a tablespoon of salad dressing or dishing up a half cup of rice or potatoes. Controlling portions can help control weight and diabetes. November is Diabetes Awareness Month. 

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Pentagon study: Too fat to serve

For anyone who thinks the obesity epidemic is not such a big deal, maybe a new report from the Pentagon will impress you: Turns out that one-third of all Americans aged 17 to 24 have health problems that make them unfit to serve. And the biggest single issue is, you guessed it, obesity.

"We have an obesity crisis in the country. There’s no question about it,” said Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon’s director of accessions, in this Army Times article.

“Kids are just not able to do push-ups,” Gilroy said. “And they can’t do pull-ups. And they can’t run.”

The situation is so dire, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and a group of retired military officers led by former Army Gen. Wesley Clark in a report called Mission: Readiness say this lack of fitness for military duty is a national security threat.

The threat's even bigger in Florida, which has more young people who are overweight (33% vs. 32% nationally).

And it's a threat that's come on quickly: Last year, 23 percent of Americans age 18 to 34 were obese, according to the CDC. In 1987, just 6 percent were.

But obesity and other health problems aren't the only issues that keep most Americans from being military ready. In fact, just a quarter of U.S. youth meet service standards. Here's how the ineligible population breaks down:

•Medical/physical problems, 35 percent.

•Illegal drug use, 18 percent.

•Mental Category V (the lowest 10 percent of the population), 9 percent.

•Too many dependents under age 18, 6 percent.

•Criminal record, 5 percent.

Charlotte Sutton, health and medicine editor

 

Plan for a snack attack

Start scheduling and planning for 3 between meal snacks each day. Focus on high fiber, low fat, calcium and protein. Examples: 1 string cheese with 4 whole grain crackers, a small apple with two tablespoons of dry roasted peanuts, one  4 ounce sugar free pudding or yogurt cup. November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Snacks can help diabetics control their blood sugar.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer

Tracking the latest on swine flu

 
A tech-savvy friend passed along this article from Computerworld, about how the Centers for Disease Control is using a new "near real-time'' system hosted by GE Healthcare to better figure out what's going on with swine flu and seasonal flu.

The system lets the CDC collect data on 14-million patients across the U.S., directly from their doctors or hospitals. The idea is to quickly identify outbreak hot spots so public health authorities can alert people in the area, get the latest information on which kinds of patients are suffering serious complications, and what kinds of symptoms doctors are seeing.

What this means is that instead of it taking days and weeks to get information back from the field, CDC scientists get updates every 24 hours. That way, they know better where to send vaccine, drugs and expertise. Patients' names and other identifying information are scrubbed from the data, in accord with federal law.

All of which may give some comfort to people who wonder how health officials can know much about H1N1, which first emerged in the spring.

For you pandemic watchers at home, if you haven't found it already, check out this site. Flu Tracker uses Google Maps and a variety of official sources and news accounts to tell you how many cases of flu have been reported around the world. It has Florida figures, but doesn't get any more local than the statewide tally.

Charlotte Sutton, health and medicine editor

[AP photo from a drive thru H1N1 vaccination clinic in San Pablo, Calif. Thursday]

Brain food

Eat fish, nuts and dark green vegetables this weekend to help keep your brain healthy. Halibut, trout and salmon; almonds, pecans and walnuts; kale, spinach and broccoli all appear to protect brain cells. Click here to find out more about brain health and preventing Alzheimer's Disease.

Heart-head connection

Whatever good things you do for your heart, you also do for your brain. Controlling blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes improves blood flow to the brain and may help prevent dementia and Alzheimer's Disease. Be active, don't smoke, eat a low fat diet, maintain a healthy body weight and get regular checkups.

Irene Maher, Staff Health Writer